Pace
by XxPorcelainKnightXx
Summary: One step at a time is harder than it seems. ONESHOT


"Just… take it one step at a time… Okay, Soul?" Maka said to her stressed partner. He sighed and plopped down onto the couch while she made her way for the door. Right. Because that's easy. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before hiding away the lush, crimson orbs that were his eyes. One step at a time meant no skipping, and going over the boring crap that you already knew. It's like in school where everyone always sits there and never answers because they're not paying any attention anyways, and if they are, they obviously don't know it, so they aren't going to raise their hand.

One step at a time meant pacing yourself. Pacing yourself meant planning. Soul never liked planning. It meant he had to think about every single little "What if" and "how about". Every single little one- and they reminded him of things he didn't want to think about. That's why he was a go with the flow guy. It was easier to go with the current than against it. Everyone was going to end up in the same old, smelly, gross nursing-home and/or dead in the end anyway.

It meant standing in place until you got what you were doing- even if everyone else was moving ahead, leaving you behind…  
>He didn't want to have to deal with the agony of everyone being ahead of him, so, even if he didn't get it, he'd rush up ahead to be at their sides.<br>Soul got up off of the couch and decided to raid the fridge, in spite of the fact that Maka had just kindly fed him before leaving to go hang out with Tsubaki and Chrona.

Soul hated when she talked sometimes. On the occasasion, yeah, she had a point, but other times… Well, there were times when a man had to play cool and not weak, thus the result of calling the girl stupid among other insults.  
>He would never tell Maka that being left alone scared him. It never had before, but after meeting her… He even <em>played<em> for her. He couldn't leave someone if he had cared about them enough to play for them. And Black Star… oh that moron did he love. Not cool to say, think that's fine. He would go to the depths of hell with that moron. Getting out was another question entirely though… They may need the ever trustworthy Tsubaki on that one… And even Kid… He had even come to like Kid too, and his mouth weapon, with the typical girly-girl mirror- so to speak. He was leaving the fridge open too long… Maka would have thrown a fit if she was still in the house.  
>Soul sighed and closed the fridge, coming out of it with one of the only things of value- a soda. He shoved his free hand into his pocket and walked back over to the couch, the way he bent over and walked would have made Black Star think he resembled an old man. Soul turned on the TV, but didn't pay it any mind. The dull murmur of people talking about pointless things- or currently unimportant things, would make him feel better. It would also be easier that way if Maka came back and he was still in deep thought. He then would at least appear to be indulged in mindless television.<p>

Which lead up to Soul's next thoughts. He sometimes thought about how great life would be if everything were just man-to-man- er, Miester-to-Miester fighting. Then everything would be easier. No stupid verbal conflicts, dumb relationships with cheating couples, worry-wart nags- nothing complicated and stupid. It would just be, "I'm stronger and that's that." End of story. Rechalange? Fine. If someone was really that strong, a rematch wouldn't matter- They could still kick your butt.

A commercial played that got Souls attention. The only reason it did was because it had a song he liked on it. It was a rock song for some stupid toy. They cut out all of the actual good parts of the song and played the suitable parts. That always pissed Soul off. The world wasn't like that- nice and censored. It was rude and un-elegant, distraught and disorganized. It also was the reason that he "slacked off in school". He felt that all of that stuff actually _wouldn't _really be of help in real life. Like seriously, the stuff they learned about- he remembered being taught about some famous guy that everyone knew the name of but could never remember what he did. It was stupid. Everything they'd learn in that giant room with the talking drone was pointless and just going to be thrown away the second it wouldn't need to be remembered.

He stood up and turned off the TV, now wanting to hear the song. He went into his room and grabbed a set of large, bulky black headphones and plugged them into his stereo while he skimmed through his CDs from afar, searching for the right one. There it was. Soul grabbed it off of the CD rack, popped it in and his headphones on, and laid down to listen to it on his bed.  
>Adults were the worst though. Always blaming bad stuff on kids, and never taking responsibility for themselves. They blamed kids for being ignorant, and rude, but who were the ones they were raised by? You live what you learn, and you eat with the fork you were given.<br>It also peeved Soul when they'd contradict themselves. "Stay out of the kitchen!"  
>"Why didn't you do the dishes?"<br>Stupid stuff like that.  
>But it bothered him most when they were the damn one who didn't even remember the thirty times their kid said they had stuff to do after school or something like that? They blamed it on work and stress and what-not, but it was actually them just being selfish. They had a number of ways to remember it, and had been told a number of times, but still put it out of their head. They acted like they were superior in every way just because they had years on 'em. And they all said "Oh we've been through it too". No, they haven't. They all say that, then say "Oh you guys have some much more that I did as a kid" and that the problem. So much more to remember, to deal with, do know how to work… And yet they wanted to be the selfish bastards that complained about stress. They had work yeah, but kids and teen have it too, if not more. Adults get paid, kids get screwed. They get homework on top of class work stingy teachers, forced to do something after school- School related, and a shitload of other things… All to get into more school. And the schools were nothing but a prissy bitch called "college". They wanted only the best. No cheaters now. No slackers now. No <em>real<em> men now. Nope. Only the ones that'll get on their hands and knees and kiss their asses with a smile on their face.

Soul wasn't the type to do that. He was cool, and at times, classy. He had this song playing on blast one time, and Maka yelled at him to turn it down, but said it was fitting for him. It was rock music, but had a piano in it. Maka told him to put it back on, just not so loud. She even ended up humming it by the time dinner was done. At the time, he just scoffed and brushed her off, but she was right. It was rough, and loud, and obnoxious, but kind and gentle, and had a certain fondness to it. He scoffed to himself for the urge to want to hear it now. It also hit him how much he thought about Maka. She wasn't just his miester, she was so much more than that. Dare he say it?

…His best friend. She looked out for Soul, and he did the same for her. They were closer that blood relations could ever. He knew things about her that no one ever would- not even if she got married. Same for him- minus the marriage part. Girls were way too much of a pain in the ass. They shared a bond that was indescribable. He was a part of her, as she was a part of him. She could be a pain in the butt, yes, but that just meant she cared about him. He also annoyed her, so they were even. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. "…She's so dumb…" That was actually a secret way of saying he cared about her. He would never admit that though- not even to himself.

-Soul Eater-

Soul was waken up by a warm hand gently shaking his shoulder. "…oul… Soul! Hey! Get up! Honestly… You're so lazy sometimes, and leaving these in that loud is going to kill your ear drums. How did you even fall asleep to this, yet alone this loud?" Maka said, setting his head-set next to the radio and turning it off. Soul sat up and scratched his psychotic bed-head that was lacking his bandana. It must have fallen off when he had fallen asleep. "I started thinking about you." Soul replied, cockily. Maka turned to him, gave him a glare that could make even Lord Death shake in his skin out of worry, and stomped out of the room. Soul chuckled to himself and shook his head, taking the headset back up into his hands. He put them on and turned the radio back on. She was stupid for being so smart, really. All that meant was that no matter how loud the noise around him, Maka was something calming to Soul's soul. Just because he had said it like a jack-ass didn't mean he meant it- entirely. He heard the CD start again, and realized he didn't want to hear it. She was the only one that would ever catch him listening to the CD he had in mind. He was paranoid about his cool guy image, thus if anyone saw or heard or knew he listened to it, he'd go die. An easy way to do so would be to fuck up Kid's entire house and admit to doing it- He'd kill him for sure.

Soul slipped the CD into its long awaited friend's arms and closed it to give them privacy, but listen to the harmony they made together. A beautiful piano poured out into Soul's head-set and trailed down his entire body until it lapped back around and reached down his arms to his fingers. His hands moved on reflex as he put them out in front of him and played the invisible hovering piano above him. His hand movements matched the music exactly, like his heart was just playing whatever decided to come to his mind and pour out of his finger tips and into the air for everyone to hear- if it weren't for the head-set.

It was like that when he played too. It was like he was possessed by something otherworldly. It made him feel the music the way he felt every stroke when slicing down the ******, and the feeling of their Soul's slipping, as well as how tightly Maka grasped him. He could just feel it, and it filled him with such a sense of fulfillment- like food to a hungry person…

…Maybe she was right. He just didn't like how she had worded it. Instead of her way, maybe… that would work better.

"You can only learn one scale at a time."


End file.
